Rapid Manufacturing for Forward Deployment and Maintenance

Industrial Origami, Inc., (IOI) has introduced a new manufacturing paradigm based on precision folding of sheet materials along a patented new hinge that is cut into the material.  Using standard CAD packages with IOI’s add-on software, designs are created in 3D CAD and unfolded into one or more planar parts.  The flat part design is used to drive a laser cutter, water jet cutter, or CNC punch to cut that part out of the desired material.  The processed material is then folded physically into the 3D structure that was originally rendered in 3D CAD with the same 3D precision as the 2D cutting process.  Conventional bending, by contrast, introduces enormous errors in fabrication.

This new paradigm allows manufacturing operations to store or ship nearly finished goods in a flat, compact form and fold them up when and where they are needed.  Fold-up does not require any capital equipment for light gage materials and very light equipment for heavy plate.

IOI has successfully executed two projects through the NCMS sponsored Rapid Prototyping Technology Advancement (RPTA) group.  The first, working with the Trident Refit Facility in King’s Bay, Georgia, demonstrated that the Precision Industrial Origami process could be scaled up to heavy plate steel and down to .030 aluminum.  The second RPTA project, working with the Technology Insertion group at Tinker Air Force Base, showed how the B-52 silhouette work stands could be replaced with a folded plate design that would be stronger, more rigid, meet or exceed OSHA requirements and scale to any size needed for any Depot.  During this project IOI has physically demonstrated a new manufacturing approach to making maintenance structures that have inherently improved forward deployment capabilities because the design files or the cut, flat sheets can be more readily transported in a compact form.

NCMS is currently forming a project to further advance this technology.  If you are interested in joining this effort, please contact Gary Burkart, gburkart@charter.net, 612-839-4567.

Six Sigma Product Quality

Background:

CAD technology is now capable of creating solid models with granularity and associated intelligence down to the feature level.  Corresponding Object-oriented Product Data Management (PDM) systems integrated with CAD systems have been generically designed to add value to the traditional CAD geometry.

The key business processes of…

Characteristic Accountability (linking engineering characteristics to manufacturing processes)

Methods (deciding how a component will be produced)

Planning (documenting the manufacturing approach)

… have historically not been associatively linked to the engineering characteristics or to each other.  The linkages today are largely manual.

Problem:

Current life cycle data management processes dictate manual handoffs, delegations, and follow-through, which is a compromise in terms of productivity entitlement and lead to quality oversights. Industry is struggling to demonstrate a successful marriage of CAD engineering definition with the complete manufacturing process data in a PDM environment.

Proposed Solution / Approach:

• Conduct a pilot project in a component manufacturing shop targeting an F414 fan blade.

• Demonstrate an environment in which maximum associativity, control, error proofing and productivity is achieved through encapsulating the complete manufacturing processes into the current commercially available state-of-the-art tools.

Interested in participating?  Contact Tony Haynes, 734-995-4930.